


Together, we'll mend your heart

by delightfuls



Series: You know your safe with me, just let your guard down [1]
Category: The Last Hours Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: F/M, the roadtrip fic no one asked for!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:00:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24577201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delightfuls/pseuds/delightfuls
Summary: She turns her gaze to him, not caring about the wind pushing strands of her hair onto her face, covering her eyes. Because he seems content. She lays her elbow on the arm rest, leaning on it.
Relationships: Cordelia Carstairs/Matthew Fairchild
Series: You know your safe with me, just let your guard down [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1776436
Comments: 9
Kudos: 36





	Together, we'll mend your heart

She turns her gaze to him, not caring about the wind pushing strands of her hair onto her face, covering her eyes. Because he seems content. She lays her elbow on the arm rest, leaning on it.

His own hair is all over the place, golden strands between his eyes, flowing over and against his ear. Some strands find their way against his lashes, stinging his eyes and others brushing his nose, making him scrunch his nose. She laughs at how he shakes his hair away. Reminding her of Oscar. She hides her smile behind her knuckles, as she feels his eye on her.

He sighs, dramatically smacking his palm against the steering wheel. “Miss Carstairs are you making fun of me?” He asks with a rather serious tone for the grin that’s threatening to show. She waves her hands back and forth, “Me? Mock The Matthew Fairchild?” Never!” She manages to say without bursting out laughing. 

“Oh come on  _ ‘Lia _ , spit it out, you’re making me anxious! You don’t want the driver of such a dangerous new vehicle to be anxious, or else Gods know what could happen,” He says while pouting. 

She tries to focus on his question, the smile in his voice, but her mind stays stuck upon the name he has chosen for her. Not  _ Daisy _ . 

_Lia,_ something she’s never heard, not weighed down by a past that has hurt her countless times. The name feels light flowing between them with ease, an ease she hasn’t felt in a long time. She’s free with  _ it _ . 

She inhales loudly, capturing his attention. 

She turns in her seat adjusting herself within the space, so that her body can somewhat face his side. Her fingers clutch her skirts pushing them and forcing them out of her way as fast as she can so she can go back to tormenting him. He sighs as her knee bumps the stick shift. 

“Cordelia Carstairs,” He lets out as he exhales deeply. Somehow within the rather small space she has managed to cross her legs. “Yes, my dearest Fairchild?” She asks, batting her eyelashes at him. 

He glances at her, with that  _ You know what you did  _ look she’s grown accustomed too. She crosses her arms turning her face from him. Biting her lip to keep the smile that's threatening to break onto her face. 

“Two can play that game.” He says as he makes a turn that was not planned within their itinerary. Her hands hold onto her seat. “Are you mad? Where are we going?” He turns his head slightly towards her but only to hold a finger up to his lips and give her his signature grin. 

She falls back to the center of her seat, now pouting for real, but the lulling movement of the moving car lets her mind wander and eventually fall asleep. 

* * *

Her eyes slowly open as the car is forced to a stop. The sky is not as bright as it was, the sun close to setting it seems. “What time is it?” She asks as she slowly moves his coat off her chest where it was thrown to most likely shield her from the breeze. 

Matthew’s already out of the car. “Matthew? Please come back, where have you brought us!” When he doesn’t answer she groans. She carefully places the coat on the back seat of the car, and opens the door to her side. She groans even more as her legs and feet make their way out of the car. 

She raises her gaze to the skyline, water, a  _ lake?  _ Flowers bloom around the space of water, and the grass is long enough to brush her legs. A weeping willow grows close to the water, its branches and leaves shielding whomever steps inside, hidden from the outside world. 

She tilts her head to the side and spots his unmistakable expensive shoes, she remembers their cost because he had almost sworn in front of everyone when she stepped on his toe purposely. She makes her way towards where they are, taking off her own. 

She slowly but surely makes her way towards him, his back to her, viewing the water, the skyline and the upcoming sunset. The slight wind in the air makes his hair sway and his dress shirt flow. 

She’s merely two feet away from him when he abruptly turns towards her and grabs her by the waist. She lets out a yelp, fighting to get out of his grasp, but unfortunately he is stronger than her. She kicks her feet in the air, wiggles her middle and slams her palms against his back, but he doesn’t let her go, instead he just chuckles. “You need to cool off Cordelia, and being the gentleman that I am, I will aid you.”

_Cool off?_ She thinks, no he can’t mean-, “Matthew, I swear to the Gods, if even a small drop of water touches me, I will murder you.” She can’t see his face, but she knows he’s smirking. She wishes she could smack it off his face. She’s about to say more but he stops abruptly, “Here we are!”

She lets herself breathe a bit, maybe if she relaxes she’ll be able to convince him to let her go. “Matthew...Have I ever told you how  _ understanding _ and kind you are?” She says with honey lacing her voice. 

He gives her fake hum, as if he’s contemplating her words. “You could stand to mention it more, I believe.” His grasp on her waist loosens a bit, maybe she’s getting through to him. 

“Matthew…”

“Yes? Lia you know all you have to do is say the words and I’ll let you go.” 

“Really?” 

“Of course.”

She sighs in relief. “Can you please let me go then, Matthew.” He slowly brings her down, his hands holding her by the waist, they’re awfully close, noses almost brushing, she thinks, _ no she shouldn’t, but, _

Before she can think of anything else she feels his hands push her, and in a second she’s soaked from head to toes. The water is freezing but somehow she can’t feel it, because she is overcome with anger. 

When she comes up to the surface the first things she hears are her own hard breathing and Matthew’s infuriating laughing. Her hands go to her hair trying to sort of the wet mess, she can’t even begin to think about her clothes aside from the fact that this is one of the dresses James had chosen for her. 

“You think this is funny?” She yells, but she isn’t mad, she’s annoyed and she wants revenge. Matthew nods, trying to calm himself down, his hands are on his stomach. Cordelia notices how close his feet are to the edge and somehow she finds the perfect plan to make him pay. 

She lets out an awfully long and dramatic sigh, “Could you at least help me up, Fairchild?” The young man lets out a last chuckle before nodding. As he bends down to offer her a hand, she grabs his right foot while also pulling his hand towards her, and he falls almost immediately. She pushes herself out of the way at the right moment and sees him fall face first into the water. She laughs out loud, to the point where she can’t breathe anymore. 

When he comes up to the surface, he rushes towards her. “Come here Cordelia!” She uses her hands to throw small waves towards while also moving away from him. They spend ten minutes moving around the water away and towards each other before she grows tired. 

He catches her between his arms, his wet shirt touching her equally wet arms. She ignores the way the white dress shirt clings onto him, and focuses instead on the irritating joy that blooms across his face, he thinks he genuinely caught her because he was quick. “I must tell you something that might disappoint you, my dear friend.” She says nonchalantly.

His thumbs brush back and forth against her arms, his hair is swept back and not in its usual messy manner, not that she opposes the latter, but it is nice to be able to look at his face fully. “Do tell me my dear _ Lia _ ’.” She lifts her index and shoves it playfully to his chest. “You did not win truthfully, I let you win, my skirts were getting quite heavy due to the water, it was tiring me.” She responds with a smirk. He just chuckles to himself, bowing his head down. 

They stay there standing quietly, and slowly she watches his face morph from content to sadness, but before she can ask him, he wraps an arm around her waist and brings her close to the ledge, helping her up. 

* * *

They try to dry themselves, whilst sitting on the ledge, with her twisting her hair to get most of the water out, while he turns his attention to her skirts, her dress. He carefully twists the fabric between his fingers and palms, careful to not ruin it. She watches him touch the fabric with care and attention; he has always been very fond of clothes, but there’s something different about the way he handles her dress, almost as if it was one of his own clothes. 

She is so absorbed in the view that she almost chokes when he raises her gaze towards her. She turns her gaze away abruptly, ignoring the rising heat within her chest and at the tip of her fingers. 

“I’m sorry for having ruined the dress, even more sorry for the seamstress that I ordered it from, she spent weeks on this commission.” He says not looking at her but looking at the sky, and there it is, something she somehow knew. She knew James was never quite the one to have a sharp eye for clothing, nor did he have much time to go out on his own to order a dress. 

She looks at Matthew, his hair still quite not dry, his clothes still drenched in water, “Aren’t you freezing?” She asks, because she doesn’t know what else to say. He turns towards her, his eyes sad and a false smile on his lips, “I’m fine, don’t worry.” He then rises to his feet and walks towards his car, leaving her to contemplate what she had just realized. 

She suddenly remembered the way Anna would knowingly gaze at them when she and Matthew would be conversing, or how Lucie always kept an eye out for him when Cordelia visited her, ‘No Matthew today?’ or when Alistair had once referred to him as her  _ shadow.  _ James himself had noticed but didn’t speak on it much, he only observed. All the little things started to stand out suddenly, how he would put his hand on the small of her back, let his touch linger against her waist, or how he could spend hours talking to her only about books. She noticed how she somehow did the same unconsciously. She thinks about how she spends more time with Matthew despite James being her fiance, granted it is a false arrangement she did have feelings for him.  _ Does, she reminds herself. _

Her fingers twirl around her false ring, when Matthew comes back with his coat, placing it around her. “I thought you might get cold.” She looks up at him and smiles. “I’ll be right back. I just have to take care of my own clothes, okay?” She nods as he heads towards the weeping willow, it’s branches closing behind on him, hiding him from her. 

Her whole body twitches, shivers. She doesn’t know if it's because of the cold, or because of her desire to do something about her thoughts. She sits at the edge of the water, her toes touching the water lightly.  _ Does she care for him, more than she thinks she does?  _ She doesn’t know, she truly doesn’t, but what if she does. 

It’s that _what if_ that leads her to slowly part the long branches and walk into the space hidden from the rest of the world. His back is to her, his naked back. She almost turns back due to the blush creeping onto her cheeks but she decides against it, no one is here, no one can tell her what is improper and what isn’t, she is here by her free will without any restraints. 

She slowly walks towards him, and notices a deep scar (so deep that she can see it despite the growing darkness) on his right shoulder blade. He doesn’t seem to hear or notice her walking towards him. When her fingers touch the scar he jumps away from her. His hand flies to his back, holding the spot where her fingers had been. 

She drops the coat and cautiously moves towards him again, her eyes telling him she won’t hurt him. He takes a breath and lets her approach. “Are you alright?” He asks, because of course he would be worried about her before anything else. She merely looks at him, the sun has now set, only a faint light remains, his features seem sharper and somehow even more solemn. She sets her hand lightly on the side of his face, letting herself feel his warmth. He leans almost instantly, his lips brushing against her palm, she doesn’t know if it was by mistake or purposefully. 

“I should be asking you that, don’t you think?” She says as she tries to raise his gaze towards her. “I’m fine, Cordelia, sometimes you just need to find other ways to relieve yourself of great grief, even if it might seem more painful.”

Her worst thoughts are confirmed with that statement. “Matthew… Please, you _know_ that you can talk to me.”

He sighs letting his forehead fall to hers. His left hand cradles her cheek, as her right hand settles onto his back, “I know,” he whispers, “you must know that I trust you more than anyone and anything.” 

“I do too.” She tells him without hesitation. And before she can think otherwise she rises to her toes and kisses him softly. It lasts less than a second, a simple press of lips, for two souls that are beyond confused.

When she falls back on her heels, she notices that he has not opened his eyes, she thinks she must’ve done something wrong, and she’s about to apologize when he suddenly falls to his knees and hugs her waist. 

She lowers herself to his level and notices that he’s crying, his fingers clutching the fabrics at her waist. She lets him cry, as she presses him towards her, her hands on his back and in his hair. 

They share a moment, hidden from the world, the stars themselves. A moment solely between each other.

**Author's Note:**

> I hate how I finished this but I completely went blank and couldn't figure out how to incorporate some things, so please forgive the rather half-assed ending. Anyways I have one last story I want to write for these two and it's kind of a continuation of this fic and related to the whole roadtrip thing. 
> 
> Thank you fatima, nardos and ari for helping me finish this. Kudos and feedback are appreciated you can find me @walIylinda on twitter!


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